You may profess that you have no negotiating skills, perhaps you don’t like confrontation so you continue avoiding it or you simply don’t have the will to discuss commercial factors as it is not your strength.
Whatever your justification it is time to change that as you now have the daunting task of saving your own life so the only action you must take is to change the way you think and remove any form of inability of yourself you created, as you simply gave an emotion a label suited to the occasion but factually it does not exist.
Whatever your phobia’s, fears or hesitations are that is the reason for your procrastinating, you must learn to overcome it, take the first step and put your plan into action.
Nobody is going to afford you more time, feel sorry for you or truly understand why you delayed your process to do something positive about your debt situation.
You must realise your life is only in your hands, because very few people truly care, if any, as they have their own lives to live, goals and dreams to achieve.
Your first step to communicate with your creditors is to directly connect with the decision-maker/s or the most senior manager who has authority as you will waste time following the cycle of representatives, to team leaders, then to supervisors where your request may get lost or delayed along the way.
The following steps only serve as a guide for you to follow, as it outlines the basic process:
Directly connect with the key decision-maker and request an appointment.
Before going, ensure you completed a debt-schedule detailing all of your debt under the following columns:
Creditor name.
Account no.
Current outstanding.
Original principle.
Current monthly payment amount.
No of months in default.
Desired / targeted monthly payment you need (here you must project a realistic monthly payment that you need where the total monthly payment of all your accounts is what you can afford monthly, without skipping any payments.
Comments/Updates – to be updated as you meet with creditors and kindly maintain this down to the contact persons name, telephone no and email if you can.
Ensure you are fully equipped with all the last official statements of accounts you received where each account must correspond with the figures you inserted in the above schedule, also justifying your requested targeted monthly payment.
You cannot just present monthly payment requests without the necessary justification and your creditor is experienced enough to analyse your schedule, so be concise.
Take copies of your personal and official documentation as follows:
Proof of Residence.
Passport copies.
The same for your spouse – this is normally a requirement.
Proof of Employment.
Salary Certificate or Proof of Salary.
Official documentation for your business partners if they are also liable for the debt or it might be requested by your creditor if the debt is in the business name.
Proof of assets if any.
Ensure you have a writing pad with you to record notes of requested information and/or documentation required by your creditor in addition to what you already presented.
Dress professionally, do not overdress and arrive there overdone, dripping in gold or jewels like you are going to a party or fun date.
Act professionally, diplomatically with absolute humulity, gratitude and appreciation to ensure your authencity shines as humans can sense and feel genuine emotions.
Drop any facade or justification as to why you are in this position, just tell the truth as it will serve you.
This is not the time to be putting an acting career into play so an emotional breakdown is not going to serve you because you should remember your creditor meets hundreds, if not thousands of debtors like you where finally, they are not a charity. So be clear that you are there to fulfil your legal obligations to repay your debt, period.
Don’t take people with you for support just because you are too weak to face your problems alone. Cluttering your own personal space with your creditor for the first time is going to irritate your creditor and put you in a bad situation. Remember most of the time you will only have this one chance to win your creditor’s confidence for the first phase so you need to do it correctly.
Be prompt, don’t be late and full of excuses as it is a negative reflection of you, your life and why it is in a bad state. Even if the creditor is late, it is your duty to be on time.
Negotiate politely, ask with humility, give the creditor a chance to explain, talk and respond because you would have had the first chance to present your situation. Whilst they are talking, jot the list of questions you wish to ask once they are finished speaking.
Naturally once the meeting is over you would have reached an amicable agreement as to the next stage so record those points, even the follow-up date, the person to contact, their contact details if not the decision-maker you are currently meeting and ensure you have all basis covered.
Finally, thank them for their time and consideration and mention how much you appreciating them taking the time to meet with you to discuss your problem.
Then request their business card and exit.
This process is very simple but you need to prepare yourself mentally to enable you to walk into that creditor room with the utmost confidence and there are so many self-help books, video’s and workshops I mentor to enable debtors to gain this level of self-confidence. But you really don’t need my help if you wish to do this part by yourself as the internet is hugely resourceful.
Remember, your ownly job is to be authentic, ask what you want and co-operate fully.
[Note 1: Theda Muller is a UAE-based author of two books: Embrace Financial Freedom Volume One: 10 Proven Ways To Release Debt And Emotional Fears In Today’s Economy, and Volume Two: Releasing Fear And Bouncing Back From A Debt Crisis.
She also conducts webinars and workshops on debt recovery.]
[Note 2: The views expressed are the author’s own and do not reflect in any way, the views of Emirates 24|7. Readers are advised to carry out their own due diligence before taking any decision.]